1 post in this topic

Our wishes have been fulfilled: the Closed Beta for Blizzard's upcoming shooter will return next week, on February 9th!

Good news everyone: the Overwatch Closed Beta will be back this Tuesday, 9th of February. The game will have a new progression system, two new maps, including a new game mode, various balance changes and Private Game updates. Along with the return of the Beta, there will be a new wave of invites so sign up now, if you haven't done so already!

Here is the official announcement:

Blizzard Entertainment

Get ready for your next objective, heroes—the Overwatch Closed Beta returns February 9!

Since the last round of testing, our technicians back in Winston's lab have been hard at work analyzing field data and building out several new features and updates, including:

An all-new progression system

Two new maps, including a new game mode

Several hero balance updates

And a variety of Private Game updates, including full A.I. matches

Closed Beta testers will have a chance to check out all of these changes and more as soon as the game returns to active duty next week. Stay tuned for additional details about what's new in the Overwatch beta, as well as official patch notes.

As a reminder: If you had access to the Closed Beta before the break, you will continue to have access during this next phase of testing. With so much new content available, we're also looking to recruit more players to help us get an even wider range of perspectives and feedback—so if you're interested in participating, make sure to opt in!

The Overwatch Closed Beta will be coming online in the Americas and Europe gamplay regions on February 9, and will be launching in the Asia gameplay region on February 16. To learn more about which parts of the world are associated with each of our gameplay regions, click here.

Recently Browsing
0 members

Similar Content

New game mode, new map and a lot of big hero changes in this PTR edition!
Never say nerver, as Deathmatch, a mode the OW team explicitly said would never be in the game, is on the PTR right now! Jeff Kaplan also talks about it and the reasons for the change of heart in the latest dev update. In addition to the new game mode and new map for said mode we also get some hero changes: Junkrat can now have 2 trip mines and gets a faster tire; Orisa gets faster projectiles and a bigger barrier; Roadhog can now heal himself during movement and takes less damage while healing; Widowmaker gets a shorter cooldown grapple and can see poisoned enemies through walls!

Deathmatch PTR (source)
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
New Game Modes: Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch
Two new game modes have been added to the Arcade: Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch!
In Deathmatch, eight players go head-to-head until one player scores 20 points. Players will earn 1 point whenever they land the final blow on an opponent and will lose 1 point whenever they die to environmental damage (ex: falling off a cliff) or self-inflicted damage. This scoring will be tracked in a brand-new scoreboard. The first player to 20 points wins!
In Team Deathmatch, two teams of four players face off until one team scores 30 points. Players will earn 1 point for their team whenever they land the final blow on an opponent and will lose 1 point for their team whenever they die to environmental damage (ex: falling off a cliff) or self-inflicted damage. If players are resurrected before they respawn, the corresponding point for their death will be deducted from the enemy team’s score. This scoring will be tracked in our default scoreboard. The first team to 30 points wins!
Both modes will play out on a selection of maps from our existing pool:
Hanamura
Horizon Lunar Colony
Temple of Anubis
Volskaya Industries
Dorado
Eichenwalde
Hollywood
King’s Row
(TDM only) Black Forest
(TDM only) Castillo
(TDM only) Ecopoint: Antarctica
(TDM only) Necropolis
We’ve made several modifications to many of these maps (including restricting play to a specific area and developing a special respawn system) when playing in these modes. We’re also introducing a brand-new map specifically for Deathmatch: Château Guillard! Learn more about this map below.
Both modes will be available for play in Custom Games. Watch our developer update for additional insight: [link]
New Deathmatch Map: Château Guillard
Château Guillard is located near Annecy in southeastern France. For hundreds of years, it was the estate of the influential Guillard family, until it gradually fell into disrepair after the family's power waned in the decades after the Revolution. Recently, the château has found a new owner: the Talon agent Widowmaker, who has returned to her family's ancestral home.
GENERAL
A number of data format changes have been implemented
Developer Comments: Over the past few months, we’ve been working on a number of significant under-the-hood changes that will help us streamline the patching process. This will allow us to reduce the download size in future patches, but it does mean that today’s patch is larger than a traditional patch.
HERO UPDATES
Junkrat
Concussion Mine
Junkrat can now hold two mines
RIP-Tire
Tire’s movement speed has been increased by 30%
There is no longer a time limit when wall climbing
Developer Comments: Giving the Junkrat the ability to store two concussion mines adds some much-needed flexibility and versatility to his kit, particularly when using the mines for mobility. RIP-Tire’s damage has always been very good, but it was often difficult to steer the tire into position before it was destroyed. Increasing its speed will allow players to effectively detonate the tire more often and decrease the amount of time that Junkrat is vulnerable while controlling it.
Orisa
Fusion Driver
Projectile speed increased by 20%
Protective Barrier
Barrier size increase by 20%
Barrier shape has been changed to allow for more coverage from enemies that are below the barrier
Developer Comments: The projectile speed increase helps Orisa’s consistency, especially at medium ranges (or further). Her barrier size has been increased to better protect her team, and the new shape makes the shield more effective when it’s used on slopes or on top of objects (such as a payload).
Roadhog
Take a Breather
Can now be used while moving
Damage taken while healing has been reduced by 50%
Developer Comments: These changes help Roadhog be much more aggressive when looking for hook targets or blocking for his team. The combination of these effects significantly increases Roadhog’s sustainability and survivability.
Widowmaker
Grappling Hook
Cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 8
Venom Mine
Affected targets are now visible through walls (to you as Widowmaker only)
Developer Comments: Widowmaker is extremely powerful in the right hands, but her abilities often felt a little weak. The Grappling Hook cooldown reduction means she is more likely to have it available when she needs to escape. Venom Mine is intended to be an early warning system, uncovering enemies that are attempting to flank her or her team. With this change, she can see enemies when they trigger the mine, even if they’re on the other side of a wall.
USER INTERFACE
Added an “Outline Opacity” option under the custom reticle settings (found under Controls > Options > Advanced), which allows players to control the opacity of the black outline surrounding the reticule
BUG FIXES
General
Fixed a bug that occasionally required the Capture Point progress bar to progress past the second tick mark before being activated
Heroes
Fixed a bug that could cause D.Va's black ejection screen to briefly reappear after being ejected from her mech
Fixed a bug causing D.Va’s Light Gun to use the wrong texture while outside of her mech when the Junker skin was equipped
Fixed a bug that caused D.Va’s hair to stand straight up on the Hero Select screen when her Cruiser was equipped
Fixed a bug causing the lights on the back of Doomfist’s gauntlet to incorrectly indicate full ammo when his Hello emote was activated
Fixed a bug that prevented the area-of-effect circle for Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from being visible to all players
Fixed a bug preventing the height from Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from being high enough to reach certain locations
Fixed a bug that was preventing Doomfist’s Rocket Punch from connecting with enemy players that were moving up an incline
Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s arrow to disappear when his Meditate emote was active
Fixed a bug preventing Orisa’s “Overclocked” achievement from being granted, even after the criteria was met
Fixed a bug causing Sombra’s teeth to be visible while her Stealth ability was active when her Los Muertos skin was equipped
Fixed a bug causing Sombra’s reload animation to play even when interrupted
Maps
Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Ecopoint: Antarctica
Fixed a bug that allowed players to see past the map’s background on Black Forest
Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Black Forest
Fixed a bug that caused the announcer to say “Traveling to Dorado” when joining Castillo
Fixed a bug that prevented some equipment (vents, pipes, etc.) from properly connecting to the walls of the power plant on Dorado
Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Hanamura
Fixed an issue that caused sprays to display incorrectly on the crane on the Horizon Lunar Colony
Fixed a bug that could cause A.I. heroes to get themselves stuck while traveling to the Well Capture Point on Ilios
Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Ilios
Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Oasis
Fixed a bug that prevented Pharah’s Jump Jet from recharging while perched on doorframes in Oasis
Fixed a bug that prevented doorframes from being visible and lacking collision on the Practice Range
User Interface
Fixed a bug in the Options > Controls menu that prevented the asterisk (which normally indicates that changes have been made) from being removed from the hero’s dropdown after controls have been set to default
Fixed a bug causing the Back button to disappear when scrolling through the list of available games in the Game Browser
Fixed a bug that prevented grouped players from appearing linked in the tab menu during a Custom Game

The games are back and are bringing not only the skins from last year, but a few news ones as well, on top of the usual set of emotes, intros, sprays etc! This year also brings us competitive Lucioball in the form of Copa Lúcioball - and it can get you two new sprays, one for 10 games played and one for finishing in the top 500! The games will run from today until August 28th.
You can buy last year's skins for a discounted price as well, but you'll still have to get the new ones the hard way - and they're a pretty damn good thing to get too. You can check out the old skins, as well as all the emotes and highlight intros on the official site.

Blizzard (source)
THE GAMES ARE BACK
The Summer Games return for more fun in the sun! This year, we're celebrating the spirit of competition with a new Lúcioball arena, leaderboards, and competitive play. Unlock over 50 new seasonal items—including legendary skins like Mercy’s Winged Victory, Grillmaster: 76, and Lifeguard McCree—alongside all your favorite summer gear from last year.
PITCH PERFECT
Our 2017 Summer Games event wouldn’t be complete without a display of athletic expertise, so we’re bringing back Lúcioball—and it’s better than ever! This futuristic spin on soccer places you in a fast-paced 3v3 match in Rio de Janiero’s beautiful Estádio das Rãs or on a brand-new pitch located in the Sydney Harbour Arena.
Players can choose between two modes: Lúcioball and the all-new Copa Lúcioball, which offers a more competitive experience with placement matches, skill ratings tiers, leaderboards, competitive points, and more.
A NEW TOURNAMENT BEGINS
Stretch those hamstrings, turn up the volume, and commemorate the event with a Summer Games Loot Box, filled with new skins, voice lines, emotes, victory poses, and more. Legendary skins from last year’s Summer Games collections can also be purchased with credits for a discounted price. Over 150 cosmetic items are available, but don’t wait too long—these Loot Boxes will be will gone before you know it.

The Summer Games are coming back on August 8th, with all the skins and even more Lucioball! This time around the totally not Rocket League activity gets upgraded as there's a new (and separate) competitive mode for it - Copa Lúcioball - and it can get you two new sprays, one for 10 games played and one for finishing in the top 500! The event will run for three weeks and you can see Jeff Kaplan explaining all the details in the video below.

He's finally come to the live servers which means you can now go ahead and punch everyone, up down left right, just PUNCH IT ALL! There's also a new trailer for the character's release showcasing his abilities pretty well.
We also got the newest patch notes bringing the PTR changes to live and more:
July 27 (source)
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
New Hero: Doomfist (Offense):
Equipped with charisma and ambition, Doomfist is a consummate tactician and one of the leaders of Talon: literally throwing down his gauntlet as he joins the fight. From his base in Nigeria, Doomfist is a commanding offense hero equipped with hard-hitting melee abilities. Driven by a belief that conflict is essential to humanity’s progress, he’s committed to advancing his vision of the future—even if the agents of Overwatch disagree with his methods.
Doomfist’s cybernetics make him a highly mobile, powerful frontline fighter. His primary attack is the Hand Cannon; this four-shot weapon fires projectiles from Doomfist’s knuckles one at a time or in a single blast. With his secondary attack, Rocket Punch, he charges forward and delivers a devastating blow, knocking back any opponent it connects with and dealing extra damage if the enemy is hurled into a wall.
Seismic Slam smashes into a targeted area, knocking opponents toward him so he can deal further damage. His Rising Uppercut tosses enemies high into the air, while his passive ability, The Best Defense…, grants him shields every time he uses one of his abilities against an opponent. Lastly, his ultimate ability, Meteor Strike, causes him to leap high and drop into a targeted area, dealing massive amounts of damage.
To learn more about Doomfist, click here.
Loot Box Updates
We always want the experience of opening a loot box to feel exciting and rewarding, and in our latest patch, we’re working to improve that experience in two key ways. First, we’re drastically reducing the amount of duplicates you will receive when opening loot boxes. Second, to compensate for this reduction of duplicate items, we’re also increasing the overall amount of credits you will receive from loot boxes. On average, you should be earning just as many credits, if not slightly more, from loot boxes as you did prior to these changes.
New Highlight Options
Our highlights system has received several major updates:
The game will continue to automatically generate highlights for you based on your recent gameplay. These auto-generated highlights—now categorized as “Today’s Top 5”—will be surfaced on a daily basis and persist for a full 24 hours (or until the game client is patched, whichever happens first).
Players can now generate their own highlights! The ability to capture 12 seconds of your own gameplay has been added to the game, and can be bound to a single button of your choice (or a button per highlight slot) in the Options menu under “Request Highlight.” These player-generated highlights will be saved under a new section called “Recently Captured” and will persist until the game client is patched. Players can have up to 36 recently-captured highlights stored at one time.
With the above, players can now record any of their “Top 5” or “Recently Captured” highlights, exporting them as a video file to their gaming platform’s designated media library (on console) or directory (on PC). On PC, players will also have the option to select the quality at which these highlights are exported, supporting up to 4K for Windows 8 or higher operating systems, and up to 1080p on Windows 7.
To learn more about this feature, check out our recent developer update: https://youtu.be/OkYJlPMdWNA
GENERAL
Adjusted the respawn timing to limit defensive stalling strategies when the offensive team has a clear advantage and plays aggressively
Custom Games and Game Browser
Clarified the text on the “Flag Carrier” options under the Capture the Flag settings for Custom Games
Removed the “Projectile Speed” and “Projectile Gravity” options for heroes who do not have projectile weapons
Minimum movement speed has been changed to 50% (formerly 10%)
Players can no longer select Roadhog during Limited 1v1 matches
User Interface
Added ability to create customized reticles
Reticle options can be found under the “Controls” tab in the “Options” menu (click the “Advanced” expander under the “Reticle” heading)
The name of Mercy's “Stethoscope” spray has been changed to “Heartbeat”
Statistics gathered from 6v6 Elimination matches will now be added to statistics in the Career Profile
Tie games will no longer be included in the win percentage calculation that’s listed under the Player Profile
HERO UPDATES
D.Va
Defense Matrix
New sound effects and voice lines have been added, indicating when Defense Matrix has absorbed an enemy’s ultimate ability
Genji
Deflect
New sound effects and voice lines have been added, indicating when an enemy’s ultimate ability has been deflected
McCree
Flashbang
Stunned targets are now slowed heavily, meaning they're less likely to escape while stunned (especially while in the air)
Developer Comment: This change will make McCree's Flashbang consistent against fast-moving targets like Genji or Lúcio.
Reaper
Shadow Step
Sound effect and VO distance has been reduced by 50%
Developer Comment: Even though Shadow Step wasn't intended to be used as a way for players to teleport right next to an enemy without their knowledge, the sound effects were audible from distances that made teleportation difficult from nearly anywhere. This change allows Reaper to be a bit more sneaky with his flanking options.
Reinhardt
Rocket Hammer
Swing speed increased by 10%
Developer Comment: In the last update, Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer had an issue that allowed players with higher latency to swing faster. We fixed this bug, which suddenly made the swing speed feel too slow, so we’re compensating by increasing his standard swing speed. During this process, we also found and fixed a few bugs with Rocket Hammer’s hit registration. Overall, the hammer should feel much better.
Zarya
Graviton Surge
Now disables mobility abilities on all affected targets
Developer Comment: In the past, the abilities that allowed heroes to escape Zarya’s Graviton Surge felt fairly arbitrary. We’re cleaning this up and increasing Graviton Surge's overall power by rendering all movement abilities unusable when an enemy is trapped.
BUG FIXES
General
Fixed an issue preventing “Best In Game” stats from being updated
Fixed a bug that could cause the user interface to incorrectly indicate that an enemy player has been hit when colliding with them
Fixed a bug that could allow projectiles that would normally pierce shields (i.e. Reinhardt’s Fire Strike) to pass through other surfaces
Fixed a bug that caused some players to lose audio during the match
Competitive Play
Fixed a bug that caused players to get a leaver penalty during offseason matches, even after the in-game banner advised it was safe to leave the match
Custom Games and Game Browser
Fixed a bug that prevented players from being added to a Custom Game with 12 Spectator slots
Fixed a bug in Custom Game settings that prevented some heroes with Self Healing from having a Healing Dealt modifier
Removed the Projectile Gravity slider from heroes who do not have abilities affected by gravity
Heroes
Fixed a bug with D.Va’s Call Mech ability that allowed you to see her inside the mech before entering it
Fixed a bug that could cause eliminations from Junkrat’s Total Mayhem to be mislabeled in the kill feed
Fixed a bug that would cause Junkrat to use his Ultimate Callout when he is unable to use his Ultimate
Fixed a bug that allowed Roadhog’s Chain Hook to latch on to Orisa’s Supercharger
Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to take damage after activating her Translocator
The sound effects on Reinhardt's Bloodhardt, Blackhardt, and Wujing skins have been updated to reflect the use of an axe instead of a hammer
Fixed a bug preventing Lucio from receiving the full speed boost when traveling backwards during a Wall Ride
Fixed a bug that occasionally prevented Torbjörn from building and upgrading his turret
Fixed multiple hit registration bugs in Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer
Maps
Fixed a bug on Eichenwalde that prevented Soldier 76 from placing his Biotic Field in certain locations of Point A
Fixed a bug that caused AI-controlled players to perpetually move toward the objective on the Gardens point in Oasis
Fixed a bug that prevented Training Bots from facing the right direction and returning to their original location after being moved by player interactions on the Practice Range
Fixed a bug with that was causing unusual camera angles for Highlight Intros on Route 66
Fixed a bug that could cause D.Va to fall through the floor while boosting into the ground in a specific area on Volskaya Industries